Sliding electrical contact part

ABSTRACT

A sliding electrical contact part is disclosed. The contact part includes a base of carbonaceous material and copper. The contact part is lead-free and contains zinc and iron-base particles having a size less than 500 μm. The contact part is particularly suitable for electrical devices which require high friction densities and friction velocities, such as motor vehicle starters with a high power-to-weight ratio.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a §371 National Stage application of InternationalApplication No. PCT/FRO4/00 1987 filed Jul. 26, 2004 which claimspriority to French Application No. 03/095 14 filed Aug. 1, 2003.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to sliding electrical contact parts containingcarbon material, typically graphite, and a metal or metal alloy designedto increase the electrical conductivity, typically copper. The inventionrelates more specifically to electrical contact brushes, in particularthose used in starter motors.

2. Description of Related Art

Sliding electrical contact parts may contain additives of lead orantimony, in order to provide them with good electrical dampingproperties, a low coefficient of friction on a contact element, such asa commutator, and performances which remain constant in time. To improvethe wear resistivity performances, the application no. FR 1 392 967suggests the use of materials containing, apart from lead, manganese(Example 1) or tin+iron mixture (Example 2).

As the addition of lead is toxic and damaging to the environment, thereis a high demand for contact parts containing little or no lead orantimony. However, it is not easy to replace lead or antimony by othermetals known for their lubricating properties. Consequently, theEuropean patent application no. EP 0 525 222 teaches to replace lead orantimony by tin or zinc, by taking measures designed to separate thecopper from the zinc or tin additions, in order to prevent theseelements from forming alloys.

However, in electrical devices that demand high current densities andfriction speeds, such as automobile starter motors with high powerweight ratios (especially flat commutator starter motors), the brushes,especially if they don't contain lead, and even of they contain no zinc,do not attain the required performances, especially in terms of lifetime and the stability in time of their characteristics. The applicanthas therefore searched for solutions to this problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is a sliding electrical contact partcontaining a carbon and copper base, characterised in that, free fromlead, which is to say containing practically less than 0.05 weight-% oflead, it contains among others zinc as well as iron based particles,which are less than 500 μm in size.

The applicant has noted, in his tests, that the combined effect of zincand iron was to reduce friction without causing rapid wear of thecontact part. The applicant attributes the performances of the contactparts of the invention to the fact that iron has polishing propertiescombined with high electrical conductivity.

The iron based particles, which typically contain more than 80 weight-%of iron, may possibly contain one or more alloy elements.

The base containing carbon preferably represents at least 20 weight-% ofthe weight of the contact part. This proportion is typically between 30and 80 weight-%.

The base containing carbon of the brush contains at least one materialcontaining carbon, which may be carbon or preferably graphite. Thecontact part of the invention may possibly contain more than onematerial containing carbon, such as a mixture of graphite and amorphouscarbon. Preferably, the base containing carbon will have at least 60% ofits weight made up of graphite. The graphite may be natural orartificial or a mixture of both.

The proportion of iron based particles in the composition of the contactpart is preferably between 1% and 15% of the weight, and still morepreferably between 3% and 10% of the weight. The size of the iron basedparticles, typically characterised by a D50, is advantageously below 500μm, and preferably below 200 μm; this allows on the one hand to obtainan homogenous distribution of the iron in the powder before it iscompressed, and on the other hand to prevent the appearance ofmicro-cracks in the powder mixture after compression. It is alsoadvantageously greater than 50 μm in order to make the powder mixturepour better prior to compression.

The proportion of zinc is preferably between 0.5 and 20 weight-%, andstill more preferably between 1 and 10 weight-%.

The proportion of copper depends on the application envisaged. It istypically situated between 20 and 80 weight-%.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows double layer starter motor brushes of the invention in alongitudinal sectional view.

FIG. 2 shows an electrical motor brush of the invention, in alongitudinal sectional view.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The contact part of the invention may possibly contain additives such asone or more lubricants or one or more polishing products (such ascarbides or cokes).

The contact part of the invention may be formed by several stackedlayers, which is to say that it may be multi-layer, for example a doublelayer.

The sliding electrical contact part of the invention is advantageouslyused in an electrical brush. In this way, an electrical brush is also anobject of the invention, such as a brush for an electrical motor orstarter motor comprising at least one sliding contact part according tothe invention. The commutator of electrical motors and starter motorsmay be cylindrical or flat. The contact part of the invention isespecially adapted to the brushes of automobile starter motors. Thebrushes according to the invention may be made of a single material(single layer) or of several materials (multi-layer), with at least oneconductive layer, called the conductive layer, composed of a materialwith low electrical resistivity and at least one layer, called theswitching layer, composed of a material with a higher electricalresistivity. In the latter case, it is at least the material composingthe conductive layer that advantageously contains the zinc and ironparticles whose size is less than 500 μm.

The contact parts of the invention may be obtained by a processcomprising:

-   -   the mixing of copper, zinc, iron and graphite powders and a        bonding agent;    -   the shaping of the contact part, typically by compression in a        die;    -   the heat treatment of the part capable of baking it.

The French patent application no. FR 2 709 611 describes a manufacturingprocess for multi-layer brushes capable of being used to obtain thebrushes of the invention.

An electrical brush (1) typically comprises at least one contact part(6) and a connecting conductor (5) that is typically a flexible cable.The brush (1) may comprise means to connect the contact part (6)electrically to the connecting conductor (5).

The direction of rotation of the blades (10) of the commutator (9) isshown by the arrow R. The blades (10) “enter” from the side (7) calledbrush inlet and “leave” by the side (8) called brush outlet.

As shown in FIG.1, a multi-layer brush (1) comprises a contact part (6)which typically comprises a base (20) including at least one first layer(2) with a first conductivity, called high, and a second layer (3) witha second conductivity, called low. These layers are positioned so thatthe interface plane (4) between them intercepts the blades (10) of thecommutator (9). This layout prevents electrical arcs from occurringduring switching, which is to say when a blade passes from onecommutator to the next. The interface is typically perpendicular to theplane that is tangential to the blades (10).

In the case of a double layer starter motor brush, such as that shown inFIG. 1, the connecting conductor (5) is typically anchored in the highconductivity layer (2) of the brush, either directly (FIG. 1A) or viathe low conductivity layer (3) (FIG. 1B).

The proportion of copper in the high conductivity layer is typicallybetween 50 and 70 weight-%. It is typically between 2 and 30 weight-% inthe low conductivity layer.

In the case of starter motors, the thickness of the layers depends onthe type of starter motor. In automobile starter motors, the thicknessof the high conductivity layer is typically between 3 and 6 mm; that ofthe low conductivity layer is typically between 1 mm and 2 mm.

A multi-layer brush may also comprise two or more joining contact parts.

Comparative tests were carried out on two different compositions ofmulti-layer brushes. The brushes were multi-layer brushes such as thoseshown in FIG. 1. With respect to the contact surface area S on thecommutator, the dimensions of the brushes were 18 mm in the radialdirection, 11 mm in the axial direction and between 4.5 mm and 9.4 mm inthe tangential direction. The commutators were flat (as shown in FIG.1).

Table I shows the ranges of the proportions in weight of each componentused in the initial mixture of the first layer (2). The iron particleshad a purity of metal higher than 99 weight-%. The additive consisted ofusual lubricating and polishing products.

TABLE I Composition Graphite + bonding Additive Test Cu (%) Zn (%) Fe(%) agent (%) (%) No. 1 60 to 65 3 to 5 5 to 9 17 to 30 2 to 4 No. 2 60to 65 3 to 5 0 26 to 35 2 to 4

The composition of the second layer (3) called the switching layer wassimilar to the first layer with a significant difference in theproportion of copper, which was much lower in order to increase theresistivity of the layer.

Table II shows the results of the tests and measurements carried out onthese brushes. This table provides, for each test, the resistivity pmeasured, the speed of rotation of the commutators of the flat startermotors (corresponding to that of the input gear mounted on the machineshaft), an evaluation of the wear of the contact, which is to say anevaluation of the drop in the performances after 20,000 cycles (bymeasuring the torque and the speed of rotation), and an evaluation ofthe “working life” by measuring the number of cycles carried out on abrush for it to reach a degree of wear of 10 mm.

TABLE II Working Speed life Test P (μΩ · cm) (rpm) Wear (cycles) No. 1 3 to 10 1600  4% 40,000 to 50,000 No. 2 30 to 50 1580 10% 15,000 to25,000

These tests show a clear improvement in the performances of the brushesof the invention, which seems to be due to the presence of ironparticles.

LIST OF NUMBERED REFERENCES

1. Brush

2. First layer

3. Second layer

4. Interface

5. Connecting conductor

6. Contact part

7. “Inlet” side

8. “Outlet” side

9. Commutator

10. Commutator blade

1. A multi layered sliding electrical contact part comprising a basecontaining carbon, copper, zinc and iron, wherein the contact partcomprises at least one layer composed of a first material with a lowelectrical resistivity and at least one layer composed of a secondmaterial with a higher electrical resistivity, the first materialcontaining zinc and iron based particles of a size less than 500 μm, andwherein the iron based particles comprise between 1 and 15 weight-% ofthe contact part.
 2. The contact part of claim 1, wherein the baserepresents at least 20 weight-% of the contact part.
 3. The contact partof claim 1, wherein the base represents at least 60 weight-% of thecontact part.
 4. The contact part of claim 1, wherein the iron basedparticles comprise between 3 and 10 weight-% of the contact part.
 5. Thecontact part of claim 1, wherein the iron based particles are of a sizeof between 50 gm and 200 gm.
 6. The contact part of claim 1, wherein theiron based particles comprise more than 80% of the weight in iron. 7.The contact part of claim 1, wherein said part comprises between 0.5 and20 weight-% of zinc.
 8. The contact part of claim 1, wherein said partcomprises between 1 and 10 weight-% of zinc.
 9. The contact part ofclaim 1, wherein said part further comprises at least one lubricant. 10.The contact part of claim 1, wherein said part further comprises atleast one polishing product.
 11. The contact part of claim 10, whereinthe polishing product is selected from the group consisting of carbidesand cokes.
 12. An electrical brush comprising the contact part ofclaim
 1. 13. The electrical brush of claim 12, wherein said brush is anelectrical motor brush or an automobile starter motor brush.
 14. Anautomobile starter motor, comprising the electrical brush of claim 12.15. An electrical motor comprising the electrical brush of claim 12.